The field of the present invention is the extension of an error-recovery function of a Fibre Channel Single-Byte system so that it can transfer diagnostic and statistical information sampled at the time of an error in the system.
In fibre channel networks, especially those Fibre Channel Single-Byte networks, data available to field personnel sent to analyze network problems is insufficient. Analysis of these problems has shown that the required error data is often available, but it cannot be accessed and provided to field personnel. For example, error data required to diagnose channel problems often exists only at the control unit, and it cannot be acquired and displayed at the channel. Similarly, data required to diagnose control unit problems often exists only at the channel, and it cannot be acquired and displayed at the control unit. The IBM version of the Fibre Channel Single-Byte system is available from IBM as the FICON network, and is further described in the following standards documents:    1. NCITS 349-2000, Fibre Channel Single-Byte Command Code Sets-2 (FC-SB-2)    2. ANSI NCITS Project 1331-D, Fibre Channel-Framing and Signaling (FC-FS)